


Safe Havens

by mallardeer



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 16:30:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10948368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mallardeer/pseuds/mallardeer
Summary: Kara's secret gets spilled during the course of the battle to save earth, and Lena turns frosty. After it's all over, Kara tries to explain herself.





	Safe Havens

**Author's Note:**

> Here is some ANGST, because that's all I have for these two lately.

After it’s all over, she flies uptown and lands on the balcony as softly as she can. It’s late, and the world has almost ended, but of course she’s here. She probably needs the distraction as much as anyone else.

“I told you once that’s not an entrance,” Lena says, without looking up from her work. 

Kara stands in the doorway, heart in her throat. “I have a bad habit of taking shortcuts,” she says, letting herself hope for a laugh.

Lena does not oblige, and her heart sinks straight to the floor. “Come in if you’re coming in, Kara,” she says, and it’s not an invitation, but Kara will take anything she can get.

“I just wanted to thank you, for all your help,” she says, planting herself in front of Lena’s desk. 

“Well, you’re welcome. I’m happy to help,” Lena says, but there’s no warmth to her words, and Kara’s heart clenches.

“Do you feel like I’ve been lying to you?” she asks hesitantly. 

“Lying by omission is still lying, Kara. I understand that your identity is valuable to you; I had thought that we were friends, that’s all.”

“Would you believe I thought I was trying to keep you safe?” she asks, and she sees a tendon in Lena’s jaw jump. 

“I’m not a big proponent of the idea that keeping people ignorant keeps them safe. And I’ve been in plenty of danger without knowing your secret.”

Kara sighs. She can’t argue with Lena about either of those things, and she knows, really, that protecting Lena has nothing to do with it. “You think I don’t trust you,” she says sadly. “That I’ve been holding back because you are a Luthor, after all.”

Lena finally raises her head and meets her eyes. “Tell me I’m wrong,” she dares Kara, and it’s the easiest thing she’s ever done to say,

“You’re wrong,” with complete and utter conviction.

Lena’s expression doesn’t change, but Kara thinks she sees surprise flit across her eyes.

“Do you know, I kind of thought you knew?” she says, before she can think better of it. “You practically called Clark the man of steel right in front of me the first time we met. I told you I flew here the second time, and you made me take your alien detector test.”

“You passed,” Lena says, and Kara smiles grimly.

“I tampered with your device,” she confesses, and Lena sighs.

“Yes, I have suspected. It was quite the coincidence that Supergirl was getting coffee with Kara Danvers the night I got pushed off my building. But… we became close, and you never told me. I had to tell myself I was imagining things, because my friend Kara, who knows how everyone in my life has eventually let me down, would never keep such a big secret from me.”

Lena says all of this matter-of-factly, as if Kara hasn’t broken her heart, and Kara chokes on a sudden sob. Now she’s just one more person who has failed Lena.

“I am sorry,” she says evenly, willing herself not to cry. “I hate that I hurt you. But you were a haven for me,” she admits quietly. “Everyone else in my life knows now; everything is always about Supergirl. I got to be Kara with you, when things were normal. I should have told you after you saved my life from those nanobots. But I was selfish. And I’m sorry.”

Lena looks up at her again, a slight frown on her face. “I was…a haven for you?”

“I have a hard time, sometimes, balancing Kara Danvers and Supergirl. I mean, even with you. But when things were quiet, and all I had to do was meet you for brunch, it was…the best feeling. And when you told me as Kara, that I was your hero? I just…I couldn’t let that go. I want to be more than my accidental super powers, and I was, with you.”

Lena is silent, but her expression has softened, so Kara continues. “Lena, your friendship means everything to me, and I am sorry I put it in jeopardy. I just…I hope you can forgive me.” She decides she’s said her piece, and she won’t push Lena any further, so she heads for the balcony.

“Wait,” Lena says quietly, and she stops. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t being fair to you. I just… I thought I finally had a person who didn’t see Lex when they looked at me. And when I found out you were keeping… Well, the only reason I could think of was because you didn’t trust me.”

“Oh, Lena,” Kara says softly, “I’d trust you with my life. I should have trusted you with both of them.” Tears sting her eyes, so she turns away again, but then there is a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Friends, then?” Lena says, and Kara nods once.


End file.
